Married to England
by Inwitari Turelie
Summary: Something England says leaves America rather confused. When sorting out the misunderstanding England finds himself remembering his most beloved queen. Human&Nation Names used. Can be seen as slight USUK. EnglandxQueenElizabethI
1. America Hears a What?

"I have already joined myself in marriage to a husband, namely the kingdom of England"

Queen Elizabeth I to Parliament.

* * *

Right now no one at the UN conference was getting any work done, they were too busy watching the spectacle in front of them. Germany had even officially dissolved the meeting for today in despair at anything being done.

America had to say he actually felt sorry for Russia. Now this was something rather out of the ordinary for Alfred didn't tend to see eye to eye with the other man. Why, Ivan couldn't just see that a nation as great as himself, America, should be the Hero and be emulated by all the other world countries he just couldn't understand. Still anyone with a crazy-stalker-sister like Ivan's had to be pitied. Although oddly enough it wasn't be fight he really felt like being the hero in. Still duty calls.

"Do you think he needs help?"

"America you are an idiot, of course he needs help you git but if you're planning to get in Belarus's way then you're an even bigger idiot than I thought you were." Responded a rather irritated England wondering not for the first time how he had managed to raise the boy with no sense of self-preservation.

"I think it's rather sad really" Offered Austria as input "Natalia doesn't understand that a relationship needs space, I mean when I was married to Elizaveta I let her have all the time away she wanted, I didn't try to impose my customs on her or anything."

"And you and Hungary divorced, I hardly see you as the poster couple for marital bliss. Still there is some truth in what you say, it certainly worked for me during mine, time on the high seas washed away most annoyances"

"I blame that on the war" the other nation.

Meanwhile Alfred looked on in confusion, Iggy was married? When had that happened? Who too? Alfred couldn't remember any unions with other countries, sure he'd had his empire but he seemed to adopt them as siblings. Officially Arthur was the United Kingdom but he had been England when he had first meet Alfred and many of the other nations called him this, perhaps it was one of the other nations of the UK Iggy was involved with, but he thought Iggy had called them his brothers and while they were nations and such things weren't set (he had his suspicions about those german "brothers") it didn't seem quite right. Eventually he turned to the nation who had somehow ended up next to him. Even though the other nation tended to annoy him he was quite sure France _would _know this type of thing.

"France?"

"Oui, call me Francis mon cher"

"Who is England married to?"

"Was, mon cher,was,"

America looked blank.

"Angleterre _was _married not _is _married, mais que is this has little Angleterre not told you? No? Well I shall have to remedy that." He raised his voice "Our dear Angleterre here is one of the very few, perhaps the only country to have married his boss"

"What?!"

"Bloody Hell frog, you make it sound perverted" Arthur yelled having heard Francis's words.

"And it wasn't?"

"No!" Arthur spluttered "and you're one to talk with your dear Jeanne"

"You'd know about that Angleterre, wouldn't you, is that why you killed her like you did? Were you jealous?"

Alfred had by this point given up trying to get any sense out of either of them. Even _he_ could see he wasn't going to get anything out of the other two anytime soon.

"I wish they wouldn't fight" an extraordinarily quiet and easy to miss voice said or rather whispered next to him. As he turned to see Canada, for that is who it was (although it was difficult to see how such a quiet nation could be his brother, Alfred always thought Canada should be more like him) Alfred had a thought. Matthew had gained his independence later than Alfred, perhaps he knew British history?

"Mattie, do you know who Iggy was married to?"

"Perhaps you should ask him yourself"

"Nah, he'd jus snap at me"

Feeling rather uncomfortable as he rather thought that Arthur should be the one to tell his brother something and not him he suggested perhaps that Alfred should and look it up somewhere, maybe in a history book.

Scowling Alfred got rather annoyed, Iggy's marriage was well known enough to be in history books, yet he, the hero didn't know about it?!

Leaving the conference room, Alfred got out his laptop, there was no way someone as awesome as him had the time to look things up in some fuddy-duddy text book the internet was how a modern American should do things. Opening up Google he typed in "marriage England" only to get a host of results on how, where and when you could get married in England which while interesting was not what his was looking for. Still, a hero never gave up and trying again he typed "England married to" which came up with an article titled "Married to England" bingo!

America read through the article with growing disquiet, this woman wasn't worth Iggy, Virginia had been wrongly named! Although Alfred was very confused, he'd thought Elisabeth was the name of Iggy's current Queen. Wait, what if it Iggy had done some strange thing with his magic and brought her back to life or something. That might explain the strange lack of love towards a real princess that England's royal family had shown, if they were his, Iggy wasn't great with his emotions. Alfred needed to find out more, be the hero and rescue Iggy from this spell. Although first he had a state to rename.

Back in the conference room, Arthur suddenly realised something, "Where's America?"

A/N: Something I found a while ago I decided to post, I think I was a bit sleepy when writing it so it's possibly a bit odd but hopefully it came out ok. My 1st attempt at writing hetalia.


	2. What America did next

"I've already told you America I'm quite happy with my name as it is and I'm definitely not being called any of your suggestions, especially Ginny- I'm not dating Harry Potter for goodness sake," stated a rather annoyed Virginia. She had been planning to work on attracting business today but ever since Alfred had come back from the conference he had given her no peace.

"But it's a lie; I've already told you that, look if you're attached to being name after her then what about Elizabethland or something like that"

"No!"

"Yeah, you're right" Virgina sighed in relief "It's sounds too English and uncool for an amazing American state" She mentally hit her face palmed again.

"Look, America, I don't care what your problem is, I'm not changing my name and that's final. Now, get the hell out of here!" With this she pushed the rather larger man out the door and slammed it shut.

Alfred for his part couldn't understand what the problem was. Surely she could see as well as he could that an awesome honest country like America couldn't have a state whose name was a lie? Still if he couldn't get the state to agree maybe he'd have to go federal.

"You want to rename Virginia?" The president asked in despair. Discovering that your country actually existed as a person was creepy enough. Then having to put up with them when ever an unpopular bill went through the house was even worse, he had bad memories of the healthcare bill. Having to try and understand the odd ideas he came up with on the spur of the moment was possibly the worst though.

"Yep, Why should an American state continue some English myth?"

"Look, America, Alfred, I can't just rename some state, the country is unhappy enough with central government as it is, you of all people would know that. Do you want to start another civil war?"

"You never listen to me! Healthcare! Israel! This! I voted you in you know" The petulant nation moaned before storming out.

The President sighed before picking up the phone. Maybe England would know what had brought this on?

America sat chewing a pen trying to formulate his plan. He was the hero, that was a given. England was the damsel/misguided servant of evil who had to be saved. Elizabeth was the villain. He did need a sidekick though, someone who could do all the boring parts. America was thinking this through surprisingly deeply which could explain why he was so surprised when the door bell went.

Alfred opened the door only to find the nation around whom all his plans had been centred.

"Iggy!"

"Don't call me by that blasted nickname and would you like to explain to me why exactly you're trying to rename one of your states. I know you are your own country, you made that quite clear in the revolution but do you really need to try to destroy any vestiges of me that are left? Do you dislike that you much on some underlying level? I thought we were good friends now."

America momentarily deflated. He hadn't wanted to hurt Iggy's feeling. How the other nation could think that after the sixty odd years they'd had of friendship now he could not understand. He did want to be his own independent nation but he still wanted to be friends with the other country. Their relationship was to use the cliché "special". He had alliances with other nations too but none of them were quite the same as the one he had with England. Iggy was special.

"Iggy, how could you think that? I was just trying to be truthful like you always taught me to be when I was little, it was just all part of my plan to save you?"

"Save me? What exactly do you think I need saving from? I'm not some flipping damsel in distress America. If you were so interested in saving perhaps you should have came into World War Two earlier"

Either from an unusual display of tact or simply because it didn't fit in with his hero image Alfrd choose to ignore this last point.

"I'm going to save you from your boss!"

"Which one? My Queen or the Prime Minister? If it's the latter I'm more sympathetic but even so you can't just interfere in my politics, especially considering how little attention you've been paying to me lately."

"I'm not bothered about that grumpy Prime Minister of yours, although I preferred the other one I don't remember this one getting elected."

Had Alfred been more gifted at reading the atmosphere he might have noticed the smaller island nation blushing at this point.

"I going to save you from that queen of yours!"

"For goodness sake this isn't going to be another one of your anti-monarchy rants is it? Let me put this in terms you can understand. I am democracy, I simply happen to have a figurehead monarch who I rather prefer to my prime minister who acts as an icon"

"You've told me that before, you just never said that you were married to her and had raised her from the dead using devil-magic, I have to bring you back to the light England!"

"WHAT?!"

A/N: Wow, another chapter, I was amazed to the positive response to the first one and thanks to everyone who faved this or put it on alert. The opinions stated here are not my own but simply my attempts to sum the mood's in these countries. I don't know if states would have personifications but it was more amusing this way.


	3. England says it's much ado about nothing

Arthur stared at the younger nation in shock from the chair had was comfortably ensconced in as he recounted his story. Really, where Alfred got these ludicrous ideas from he would never know. He knew he should have banned that perverted frog from ever talking about his private life.

"Right, America I think it's time we set something straight. The queen France was referring to was Queen Elizabeth I, she lived in the 16th and 17th century. Bess is a completely different person to my current Queen, I didn't partake in some ritual with pentagrams and things like you have in your movies to resurrect her."

"Right" a thought struck America Britain's monarchy was hereditary right? "So like are your current royal family your descendants?" that would explain the other nation's strange affection for them.

"No! In case you haven't noticed yet I'm a country, besides she had no descendants, after her death, my brother's boss became mine too."

"Ouch, that must have hurt, especially with your pride and everything"

"My pride? That's rather rich coming from you, it worked out ok though, I'd been trying to convince him that siblings like us should work together under one government with me for ages and I ended up being the one representing us on the world stage. Of course now he follows the current fashion going on about independence all the time and grabbing any power he can. He still leaves most of the actual work to me though."

At this point Arthur remembered who he was talking to and decided it would be expedient to move on before he gave the exuberant young nation any ideas which would lead to a decrease in size of the United Kingdom.

Luckily for him the younger nation was feeling rather silly by this point, this was England, he hadn't fallen under the spell of communism, America should have known better than to think that he would get mixed up in nonsense like this. England was his loyal sidekick; the hero didn't lose him to the dark side. With this in mind he decided that perhaps he should let the other nation know this rather than going on an anti-colonial speech (rant).

"Aw, Iggy I should have known you'd never get mixed up in something like that, you Europeans can just be so hard to understand sometimes"

"Mixed up in what exactly?"

"Oh that whole thing about marrying that queen of yours, I mean I've had leaders whom I've loved, I mean that's how it works right? Like ya said we've nations, when our people love our leaders we do, it's nothing like what France said though. That would just be weird.

"I never said that part was untrue America."

With that England stood turned about and left the room.

Alfred was left staring after him, he had it seems misunderstood the situation. Sometimes all their shared history seemed to count for nothing when it came to understanding the older nation. Sure he knew they were different countries and the others internal politics could be quite different (although recently Arthur had become to recognise the awesomeness of some parts of his). Alfred had never got over the time he had introduced a democrat senator to the other and Arthur had remarked that he was rather right-wing to Alfred afterwards.

Still a hero can't just let a person run off in a mood like that; they might hurt themselves after all. With this in mind Alfred ran off after the older nation.

Luckily Alfred was the hero or more pertinently a younger stronger nation and so he was able to catch up with Arthur quickly. Grabbing the other nation round the waist he stopped him.

"Iggy. Arthur. Look I misunderstood okay? I still don't quite get what going on. There's a huge piece of history that you have from before you met me and I don't know it all. But we're allies, friends right?

He paused. To be honest this whole story seemed strange and weird to him. He still didn't quite understand it really. It was not something that he expected from England. France, maybe could have some tragic romance with a human but not England, surely.

While he paused Arthur spoke, "She wished she could meet you, you know." He gave a hollow laugh. "I did too."

Well, she can't have been too bad if she recognised his awesomeness thought Alfred. He decided that there was only one course for a hero to follow.

"Maybe you could come back into the house and tell me about her?"

_A/N: Wow, I finally finished the next chapter, sorry its so short, I've been away so hopefully the next one will be up quicker._


	4. England's Tale

_Sorry so much for taking so long, school and things have been crazy_

England stared at his counterpart. "So you want to know about Bess then?"

"I guess so, maybe then I'll understand, so how did you meet?"

Arthur sighed; Alfred was going to try to turn this into one of his Hollywood romances wasn't he?

"Well, it wasn't much really, I mean I was not aware that she would definitely be my boss never mind, well, you know. "

* * *

England stood nervously in the palace waiting to hear the news of his boss's child, his own potential future boss.

The King when he had talked to him had seemed sure it was a boy (and a healthy one at that)

"It will be a boy this time for sure, good English stock is this one, not of that continental blood to mess it up" he had told him but last week.

England however was wary, he had enough birth's go wrong, so many children sicken and die before. It was simply part of life and Death was a great equaliser casting his scythe over both rich and poor.

He was startled out of his reverie by a cry. He felt some relief for at least the babe was live (and goodness knows that was something to be thankful for after the debacle with his boss's last wife). No sooner however had he thought this than he heard what appeared to be yelling. One of the King's advisors came out looking harried, catching sight of the nation he stopped.

"I would make myself scarce if I were you, the King is not in a good mood"

"A girl then?"

The man gave a slight incline of his head. Talk was dangerous in Henry's court.

* * *

"Although perhaps that first meeting was not much of a meeting really, I didn't really see the girl too much during her childhood"

England turned to see who had called him, a young red-haired girl stood behind him. The Princess Elizabeth, the King's younger daughter. He felt pity for the young girl, she had already lost her mother (whom admittedly England had not been very fond of) and now with the birth of the son she would lose whatever small standing she had in her father's heart.

"Lord Kirkland, do you know the news of my new sibling? Are they healthy? A girl? A boy? How fares the Queen?"

Arthur's heart sank. She hadn't been told? It looked as if he must break the news.

"You have a new brother" He said, purposely ignoring the questions about health, the King had said nothing on the subject and he _had _ been allowed to see the child for a short time but he had not looked well to him but such talk was, as he well knew, dangerous.

"The Queen though is ill still"

"The birth of my brother is brilliant news, father must be so happy, I'm sure we'll be the best of friends. The Queen's health though is...unfortunate."

The was he noted a measured sort of pause before this last word which seemed out of place in one so young, but then one growing up in a situation so dangerous and filled with intrigue needed their wits.

* * *

"She did get on surprisingly well with her brother, although I supposed perhaps that was political judgement on her part. Her sister though was a different matter. Partially the problem was due to the fact that she staunchly Catholic whereas Bess and Edward was protestant. Still it made Edward's choice of heir even more strange"

* * *

"My King"

He bowed his head, this man, well boy was still his monarch, his boss regardless of the fact that it was in truth a nominal post. The Duke of Northumberland held all the power. Edward had tried but he was simply too ill. He had achieved his aims in religion though, something England had adapted to and in the end had decided he was glad of. He didn't want to be look Spain (or heaven forbid France). Despite the tangent England's thoughts had taken since greeting his monarch the boy had still not responded. He lay in feverish sleep on the bed.

"Lord Kirkland. Or should that be England." The Duke of Northumberland entered. "His majesty was worried that he might be unable to greet you properly. He asked me to draw your attention to the document by his bed. It has now been signed and passed by Parliament"

England picked up the paper; The King's declaration of secession; he was leaving the throne to...Lady Jane Grey? Arthur had nothing against the young girl, a cousin of the King, and Northumberland's daughter-in-law he suddenly realised. It was understandable that Edward didn't want Mary on the throne. After all their difference in religious matters was well known. Yet, he had restored her titles as a princess of the kingdom. Besides what of Elizabeth? And how had he _not _known? The declaration _had _gone through Parliament after all. He had heard rumours but little else and Northumberland had indicated had it in play for months. England was really sure how he felt about it. Surely the throne should go to Mary? She had the right did she not? The previous King had wanted her to be next in succession after Edward. If her religion was a problem why not Elizabeth. Northumberland had, he saw left after dropping the bombshell. France would be happy as he wouldn't want Spain and the Holy Roman Empire's boss's cousin on England's throne. That it itself was almost an encouragement to support Mary, England mused.

"England" his liege was calling weakly from the bed. "England, take care of Elizabeth, couldn't let her or Mary have the throne. Born out of wedlock. Bad for people's morals. For your morals. Could not let the country slide back into Papacy. Still, keep them safe. Especially Elizabeth."

That was the last time Arthur saw Edward. The next day the King was dead

* * *

"Sooo, Iggy c'mon what happened next? I mean I know Elizabeth got the throne eventually but it's different hearing it from you"

Alfred may have a been a grown man but he still found Arthur's stories as enthralling as he had when he was a young colony.

"The next part is not a part of my history I particularly enjoy recalling and it's getting late. How about I finish tomorrow?"

"Guess that would be OK, wouldn't want you getting tired old man. You know where the guest room is."

_A/N: So a filler chapter after such a long wait...I'm sorry. I've had mocks and stuff on my plate at school and when I'm free I've been distracted by the UK election ( and things like this related to it: _. )

_I've tried to keep the history in this accurate. In my head!canon a lot of the political stuff (like who their boss will be etc) that the nations know are what well the nation knows and I don't think Lady Jane Gray's succession was well known ahead of time. I chosen perhaps wrongly to keep Spain as completely his own kingdom having than living with Holy Roman Empire based on the history I had available but I haven't done this stuff since year 8 (or originally in year 5) so I did internet check. Again England's reaction's is partially due to the reaction of England's population to the news. Also shall I kept the USUK relation familial or move it up a level; let me know. Thanks for reading. _


	5. England, meet Mary

_So I finally updated. I've just had my exams hence the lack of updating, but hopefully this chapter is ok...(doubtful, but...)_

* * *

"Igg-geeeeeeeeeee, I've made breakfast"

Great, England really couldn't think of a better way to wake up in the morning than having his peaceful sleep broken by the shrieking of an over-enthusiastic immature America. _Right. _Not only was the brat obsessed with using this silly nickname he'd conjured up but he had also found some way to lengthen the second syllable almost indefinitely.

Downstairs, the hero Alfred F. Jones was congratulating himself, not only had he managed to avoid having to eat Iggy's food by getting up before him to make breakfast but he was pretty sure that it was good hospitality for the host to do so, which so Iggy would be pleased with him because he was so obsessed with that sort of stuff, plus, putting Iggy in a good mood would make him more amenable to telling America the rest of the story.

Given the two nations rather different takes on the morning so far it was perhaps unsurprising that Alfred found that Arthur was not as impressed with him, as he'd hoped. Alfred decided that maybe the best thing to do was to get the other country back to finishing his story, after all, talking about yourself was something that no one could get enough of right?

"Artie, tell me what happened next, cos, like I said yesterday I know that Elisabeth got the throne somehow but I don't remember this Lady Jane." He paused, showing those puppy eyes Arthur found so hard to resist "Come on, you promised"

In the end, Arthur, relented, although it was mainly just so stop Alfred pestering him any more. "Well, the reason you may not have heard of the girl is because she was only on the throne for 9 days"

* * *

"Worry not, my nation for soon everything will be as it should be"

England rode next to Mary. He knew that his defection would hurt Jane's supporters, but Mary was Henry's daughter, she was the rightful Queen. It was quite clear from the cheering crowds around that the nation wanted Mary to be Queen and what the nation wanted, the _nation _wanted. Besides Jane was not Queen anymore, with England in their company Mary had been crowned Queen. It was he mused a strange method of accession, to crown one to displace another but as Mary had the right it could be said that they were simply fixing a mistake. He had some misgivings about her, for she was a Catholic and England was no longer, still he had been fond of her mother and really had regretted Henry's treatment of her. He felt sorry for Lady Grey, for she had been but a pawn in the hands of others and he hoped Mary would show her some mercy. If she did not however England understood. His boss must be strong if she was to avert turmoil. That was how life was.

* * *

"Mary did not spare the girl, she put off her execution until she was sure the girl wouldn't convert to Catholicism. Not to eliminate her threat of course, but to try to save her soul, Mary was very religious. Poor child, she didn't want to be queen you know, tried to refuse the crown jewels."

"You just let them England? You let them kill some young girl? She was your boss?" America was shocked, I mean the hero's companion was meant to be a good guy. Now, if it had been Russia, he wouldn't have been surprised. Even France, look at his revolution. But this was England, England who…had had a civil war too, Alfred had been embroiled in his own issues at the time and hadn't paid much attention to his caretaker's problems across the sea. Besides, after having the whole thing the British nations had only gone and put their monarch back on the throne again, how incredibly pointless.

"America, Alfred, those were different times, you're incredibly lucky in some ways, you have no idea how Europe used to be. Besides that was only the start"

* * *

"Hola, Inglaterra, Does not this event please you well? My boss's son is marrying your boss and he's going to be your new boss with her. Soon, he'll be my boss too and then we'll share one and then they'll be no question of the foremost power in Europe. Hey, would that be a union, maybe we should get married too? Although my Lovi, wouldn't like that, he's such a funny tomatita, it's a strange fruit I found in the New World. They're savages out there Inglaterra, savages I tell you, I'm having to show them the true way and language. Mi dios, such heathens, Inglaterra. Still that is not a problem here is it? After all you are Catholic again si?"

England had to strongly hold in the urge to hit Spain. Not only was the other country able to babble on to an extent England wasn't even aware existed but the other one had the audacity to threaten him. For England was sure it was a threat. On top of this he expected England to be pleased about some Spanish prince reigning on his throne and the man wasn't even going to be Holy Roman Emperor either.

"If you'd excuse me Spain"

He made his way out to the gardens, before pulling up his sleeve to see the burn mark on his arm. Spain's last remark had been damned insensitive. He had been forced to re-convert and his mood varied from ambivalence about the theology but slight annoyance at being forced to feelings of refusal and full on revolution. It was his people that they were burning and he could feel it happening and it hurt, god it hurt. He had hoped the end of the War of the Roses would end his pain, that the Tudor's would bring peace such was not the case. The only good thing in his scenario was the hope he could beat France, but even that image could not bring a smile to his face. He winced in pain. He just wanted this to finish.

"Our Father, who art in heaven…"

And he began to pray. In his own language.

* * *

"Arthur, I, I kinda, understand" Alfred paused he didn't know quite how to put this without causing offence "I mean cause my first settlers they, came to escape stuff like that, besides" he gave a hollow laugh "If anyone knows about conflicting sides it's me"

Arthur met his gaze "I know"

"Still, anyway Iggy" Alfred beamed at him "This Mary sounds like a right old cow"

"Alfred!"

"Well, she does"

* * *

Arthur avoided the Queen these days. Her false pregnancies had not made her any happier unsurprisingly and she hardly saw him but to reprimand him these days. She illness as well did little for her temperament. He was tempted to try to apply for a ship to follow Portugal out to sea. Still she was his Queen and he could not avoid a summons from her.

"England. What am I to do? Why do you not like me? Why does no one like me?"

"Your highness I feel that"

She cut him off "Oh, spare me your excuses, I know you don't like me. Is it because I lost Calais? No, it's quite clear, is it because you refuse to return to the true religion and prefer to blaspheme. You do not like me for having to force you and Philip does not like me for failing to do so. You need to accept him England, it is you who pushes him away, he can see he isn't wanted, that's why he is away"

"My Queen I did advise you to marry within the realm"

With this she lost her temper and threw a cup at his head.

"I will not accept such impertinence. This is just another lie of yours because you want Elizabeth on the throne. I can see through your deceptions. For all she claims to have nothing to do with these rebellions, it is she whom they would put on the throne."

England froze. Elizabeth. He would admit to himself that he preferred her to her sister but he could not let her get in danger. Had Mary heard of his visit to her? He had only gone to check on the apparent next heir to the throne (now that Mary producing a healthy babe seemed unlikely). She had been very clever and seemed to understand. Elizabeth was attractive too, even if her hair colour was unfortunately reminiscent of his brother's. Not that that was important though, after all what did it matter to the country what their possible future monarch looked like. But, Elizabeth had somehow became a sort of beacon of hope to him and if he had to seem disinterested in her to keep her alive he would do.

* * *

"Of course as you know eventually Mary did die and she was significantly accepting of her sister then to leave the throne to her"

* * *

England rode with towards Elizabeth's house with the rest of the company. Not all knew of his nationhood but they knew the importance of the ring he carried. Mary was dead. Elizabeth was the rightful Queen.

* * *

_A/N: So yeah, very sketchy attempt at the history of that period. I'd think to thank everyone who's reviewed and/or favourited. I still haven't quite resolves Alfred and Arthur's relationship so let me know what you want. _


	6. A Coronation isn't a Marriage Ceremony

_Um, I finally did another chapter._

England knelt holding out the ring to his liege, her eyes widened as she realised what it meant.

Her response was to utter "a Domino factum est istud et hoc mirabile in oculis nostris"

In Rome's language, a phrase England was easily able to translate for although he hadn't spoken Latin as his daily tongue for centuries, he still knew it for it was still used among the nobles. Moreover it was from scripture; "This is the Lord's doing. It is marvellous in our eyes". The nation had to heartily concur with his liege. All he wanted was for the unrest of Mary's reign to end.

She then met England's eyes, "I will serve you well my country"

"You know what I am?"

"Indeed, Lord Kirkland I am quite aware of your status, though I was not my father's favourite, I yet have a good knowledge of this country's governance and secrets"

* * *

"Surely she would have known you Iggs? If you were really being ruled by her father" America queried

"Actually Elizabeth was raised in a separate household to the King and it wasn't uncommon in Europe at that time for only the heir apparent to know their nation as their nation, although we were well known as members of the nobility. Probably to try and stop the siblings usurping the throne. Besides, stop interrupting, do you want me to finish this?"

"And with this knowledge I hope to do my best for you. Moreover when I was young I had quite the fascination with the mysterious Lord Kirkland, I always knew that you were no ordinary noble."

He was not quite sure how to response either as England or Arthur Kirkland, it seemed slightly inappropriate to respond as either. He had hardly distinguished himself so far either, he felt a need to impress this young Queen of his.

"Flattered as I am, there is a coronation to organise"

"Yea, a coronation. The event where a monarch is bound to their country. That hardly an event which I would neglect is it."

* * *

"Ha, bound she made it sound like a wedding. Artie, why are you blushing? Tell me that wasn't actually your wedding because that isn't really a big romance story is it? And you promised me one."

"No you git, it wasn't like that. Well not exactly, it's just…"

* * *

England had been very busy with the organisation of the coronation and hadn't seen Elizabeth recently however his thought seemed to stray to her much more than they had to previous monarchs. However, this he thought was perfectly explainable given how much of his hopes rested on her.

However now, it was the day of the coronation and all England could do was hope it went off well. His Queen had done well making a speech to the people the night before saying

"I will be as good unto ye as ever a Queen was unto her people. No will in me can lack either do I trust shall there lack any power. And persuade yourselves that for the safety and quietness of you all I will not spare if need be to spend my blood"

She was certainly astute, in her reassurance of the people. More subtly she was trying to calm their fears of having another Queen. Women were not known for leading their countries as men were. Furthermore Mary's marriage had hardly reassured them. Elizabeth he thought though would make a much better choice in marriage than her infatuated sister had. He frowned, for some reason the idea of Elizabeth marrying just did not sit well with him. The thought gave him some sort of strange uncomfortable feeling which seemed more familiar to the times when nations choice other nations for alliances instead of him.

Bringing his focus back to the ceremony England realised that the Queen had both Sceptres and the Archbishop was about to crown her. As the country unknown as the fact was the populace he was the first to go swear allegiance prior to the nobility and clergy.

As he approached the throne he knelt and bowed in front of the Queen. Oddly this seemed to amuse her

"And why should you bow to me, my country? It seems passing strange to me that your part in this ceremony is so small, since it is as if I have married you, yet here only the bride has a part"

"Nay, it is not as a marriage ceremony for it is not one, your highness, one day you will marry in reality and that will be very different to this day"

As England left for the next person, he resolved to ask the Queen for permission to leave for the East Indies on a voyage of exploration. He wished she wouldn't talk so of marriage. She was an attractive young women for sure, and intelligent and politically astute and had been the focus of his thoughts and affections recently but she still was human. Such an idea was unheard of. It was improper. Also England had seen what Jeanne's death had done to France, he could not afford such a weakness himself. If Elizabeth kept bringing the subject up in jest, for what else could it be? Arthur would become very confused by his feelings. No, some time at sea would clear his mind, he had always wanted to sail out beyond the horizon and this seemed a good time to give into the siren call of the sea.

* * *

"So she had a crush on you? And you had one of her but wouldn't admit it?"

"Stop defacing it with your vulgar language, It wasn't like that anyway , besides what do you know of feelings in scenario's like that?"

"That's easy" said America "It's just like one of my teen movies"

It was not really surprising that this statement caused England to jump at America.

_A/N: I apologise for fail!coronation scene, I'm working on the assumption that Elizabeth I's wasn't too different to Elizabeth II's lol, not that I've seen that either. Also I've realised I can't really write romance…_

_Plus I'm still undecided on how Arthur and Alfred's relationship will turn out so if you have a preference let me know. _


	7. That Wasn't What I Meant

The United States of America simply didn't understand what he had done wrong. He had thought England would be proud of him for recognising the situation; he'd always said Hollywood was useful. Instead the older nation had assaulted him. That just wrong; the sidekick wasn't supposed to attack the hero. In fact they should be fighting the forces of commun-, erm terror together. Still, given America's amazing super strength it wasn't like an old man like Arthur could _hurt _him but it had lead to the situation now where Iggy was refusing to talk to him. He was glaring too. Iggy was really overreacting in Alfred's point of view. Perhaps the other had misunderstood him. After all not everyone would be able to see how Arthur's actions had been like Edward Cullen's trying to go away somewhere to deny the feelings to keep the damsel safe. Both were trying to avoid the whole mortality issue problem thing too. Actually that was a really good metaphor (or was it simile ), do he opened his mouth to talk to the older nation.

"If you even think of bringing up the a certain teen vampire series I'll be explaining to my boss why the special relationship is over due to the death of one of its members" England put in first.

"Aw, Iggy that's not fair, you're important to me, you raised me, I wouldn't hurt you. Anyway, I thought you liked Twilight. Actually how did you know I was going to mention it?"

"That's not what I said! I said it was an bog standard teen movie which portrayed the mental state of teenage girls surprisingly well. The sequels only advantage is that they make France focus on the screen not me. As for how I knew, you start to sparkle when you talk about it. You do it when talking about being a hero too."

"Prove your story is cooler then, Artie"

"I will" the other snapped. "Wait. I've just agreed to what you wanted haven't I? Shoot. Well, I will then America and trust me it will be easy."

* * *

Now, when England had been given leave by his Queen to pursue the sea to reach the spice-bearing lands of the East he truly had meant to. Of course that had been his aim; it had nothing to do with wanting to get away from Elizabeth and the strange feelings she brought up in him. Of course not.

Still regardless of his reasons for going he got rather sidetracked from it he had to admit ruefully as he surveyed the gold in front of him. Now, following Magellan's route had been a perfectly good idea. Arthur shivered at the memory of the route he had tried northwards a decade or two earlier, he had almost believed he would die of cold, although he had met another young purple-eyed nation who went be the human name of Ivan. There seems to be a good chance of trade with the other and it would be a good idea to keep an eye on him as he was extending into Europe.

* * *

"Wait. Russia. _Russia_. You were trying to go to the Spice Islands and you found _Russia?_ And you claim my geography is bad old man."

"Actually I was looking for the North-East Passage, I wasn't particularly fond of heat. Besides look at a map it would have worked ." Arthur paused before quietly adding "Had the North-East Passage existed." He moved swiftly on "Do you even know where the Spice Islands are anyway"

"Nope." Alfred replied cheerfully " But I know they're not in the Commie-bastard's lands."

"America. We've discussed this, the Cold War is over."

"I know, it's just an affectionate nickname, plus he _is _still crazy."

"Humph, I'm going to carry on.

* * *

No, this route had been a good idea. It was just that it was so tempting to attack Spain's ships laden with gold. It was certainly enjoyable to be able to act as he felt sometimes. Besides it was so _easy._

Much easier than establishing a colony in the New World anyway. For all that Raleigh seemed to be drawing up plans Arthur had heard no tell of a new American English nation. No, Arthur was much more interested in the nations that had something to offer him which he could actually trade with.

* * *

"Hey, Iggy, that's not fair! I'm awesome, you can't ignore me! In fact I'm much more awesome than any of your silly Spice Islands or Russia."

"I didn't ignore you did I? I came here and raised you! In fact if you actually listened you'd realise that it was the lack a personification, that is you, that caused me to have so little interest." England paused "I guess I always wanted a little brother. Anyway."

* * *

In the end though England supposed it wasn't that much of an issue, he was still bringing items of value back to the court. It was just that it was gold not spice. Besides the idea of giving gold to Elizabeth pleased him for some odd reason.

* * *

"Aw, Iggs, you wanted to give her presents, that's so sweet."

"It...It wasn't like that, I just found her much more deserving of the gold than Spain"

"Of course Iggy, you just keep telling yourself that"

* * *

England stared around the court morosely as the various explorers presented their riches to Elizabeth. It was of course stupid to feel jealous. They were his people doing what he did. It was as if he was jealous of himself which was ludicrous. They were just humans. Of course however that's were the heart of the problem lay was it not? They were human and she was human. It simply wasn't fair that they had this closeness to her which he could never emulate. At least this one was the last today. However when the court all filed out Elizabeth stayed in her seat. Which actually took England a moment to realise as he had been too busy staring at her and composing poetry about her (She would make a good Faerie Queen, would she not?) to notice everyone else had left.

Attempting to show he had reason to stay behind he approached her "My Queen, your spirits seem surprisingly melancholy, is all well?"

"All well? Yea, all is going as well as it could, yet something plagues me. I have driven the French out of Scotland for you and our mariners bring back wealth from overseas. Despite this though the court seems to be quite obsessed with having one marry. Do they not see that to marry outside the realm could cause us to lose our independence as happened to my sister?" She paused "What happens to you when the monarch marries the royalty of another country?"

"There are many routes it can take depending on the circumstances, if it is but a marriage to a one who will not inherit the throne then little happens save for an increase in friendship, although that dammed frog France would wish for more. If the result causes two countries to be united under one monarch, it is almost a marriage between the two countries, although often with none of the emotion, as is the case for Spain and Austria. It is different for us countries to how it is for mortals"

"Well, in that case I will definitely have to avoid it. I will not force such on you. Still I cannot marry instead the realm either for to promote one of them over another would cause too much disagreement. Besides there is but one Englishman I desire to marry and he does not return my affections."

Arthur stood there in shock, who would spurn his Queen's affections? How dare they when Arthur would, would...His emotions suddenly became perfectly clear. "I would marry you my Queen" he blurted out.

* * *

"Iggy! That's like the worst proposal ever, I mean it's kinda cute if you were asking her to prom, but as a marriage proposal it kinda sucks. I mean you didn't even had a ring""Well, it wasn't deliberate! I didn't mean to say it. Besides what would you know about it, would have you ever proposed to?"

"Em, Puerto Rico and Hawaii? And Canada I think once"

"America those were not proposals of love, that was you doing your own impression of Russia's 'become one with me'. Besides if I remember correctly Canada and Puerto Rico told you they were quite happy as your siblings not your spouse and you didn't seem too bothered by it" Well, Canada's had annoyed him at the time but that seemed to be more based on the fact that his brother choose England over him rather than any romantic interest.

"Course not, I was just giving them the chance to be part of the Awesome US of A."

"Right. I guess I'll have to take you word on that. Well my proposal had heart behind it at least."

* * *

Elizabeth looked shocked and Arthur wondered if he had done wrong and offended her.

"Well, they could hardly object to that now could they? What could be more proper than for a Queen to devote herself to her country as a wife to her husband? I rather like the sound of that notion I must use it to address Parliament sometime."

"But, Elizabeth, Bess, I spoke the true with my earlier declaration, yet forsooth, surely you can see this cannot be done, zounds, it would endanger both of us"

"Language Arthur. It is but unadvantageous for the court and the leaders of other countries to know of our marriage, there is no problem with the event itself."

Arthur's only response was to stare at her blankly.

"You must understand that it is for you that I do this, Arthur I must act as I am still unmarried. I must act in all ways as if this is the case."

"Why bother having a marriage then? You are not a virgin, whatever we may claim to the wider world. I would not be your first lover."

"You besmirch me by representing me as such, I was not deflowered of my own choice. Anything else is but what is necessary for me to survive as a women in the royal court. Since I have become Queen all my machinations have been for you. I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions for why I want a marriage"

"I...apologise, it was wrong of me to insinuate such."

"In that case, make sure you are free Sunday.""Sunday?"

"Yes, that should have be long enough for you to organise yourself for your wedding should it not?"

"Well…that is…I guess…but really."

"Good. Make sure you are ready"

* * *

"Iggy, she had you whipped"

"No, she didn't, that was, it suited me. Yes, that was it"

"Keep telling yourself that."

* * *

_A/N: This has been on my computer for _ages _and while it's a rather rubbish chapter I'm not happy with, I thought I'd post it as I won't have the time with school to improve it and with this done, hopefully I'll be able to write this fic some resolution._


End file.
